Blade holder



H. l. PAUL! BLADE HOLDER Sept. 7, 1954 Filed Nov. 6, 1948 IN V EN TOR. bhzarffiaal \f #1 5/4 4 ATTUKA/A'Y Patented Sept. 7, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2 Claims.

My invention relates to a blade holder and particularly to a holder for a thin double-edged blade of the type used in so-called safety razors.

The thin blades of the type used in razors are very useful for performing many cutting or scraping operations but must be handled with extreme care to prevent injury to the user. Also they are very dangerous to carry as even light contact with the edge may result in injury.

I have provided a holder which may be carried with perfect safety even in the jumbled miscellany of a gentlemans pocket or a ladys handbag. The holder, while protecting the blade from accidental contact with the person or property of the possessor, nevertheless holds the blade in instant readiness for a great many operations, such as clipping threads, opening seams, cutting clippings from magazines or papers and for opening envelopes without damaging the contents.

The holder is provided with a resilient work contacting portion adjacent one portion of the blade which flexes on contact with a work surface to expose enough of the cutting edge to perform a cutting operation and is particularly useful to cut out a portion of a page of a paper without damaging the page below. A second portion of the blade is exposed at the edge of the holder but is in turn covered by a resilient shield which provides a guide groove or channel along the edge of the holder adjacent the blade and particularly useful for slitting envelopes.

It is accordingly an object of my invention to provide a blade holder which completely protects the edge of a blade held therein.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a blade holder having resilient work engaging portions to bring the work in contact with the blade.

It is a further object of my invention to provide an envelope opener which opens an envelope without injuring the contents of the envelope.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from the following specification taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of a blade holder according to my invention;

Fig. 2 is an end view of the holder of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of one portion of the holder with the edge guard attached;

Fig. 4 is an end view according to Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the cooperating portion to the portion shown in Fig. 3;

Fig. 6 is an end view according to Fig. 5;

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing a modification of the resilient guard;

Fig. 8 is an end view of the holder of Fig.

Fig. 9 is an enlarged view showing the action of the envelope opener; and

designated a back [0 and a front ll adapted to firmly hold a blade l2 therebetween. The back In is provided with an upstanding projection or projections l3 to interfit snugly with the openings in the blade I2 which may conveniently be the well known double-edged type of razor blade. The projection [3 also extends beyond the blade I2 and snugly fits into a depression [5 in the front H. This snug fit of projection l3 with the blade l2 and the front ll holds the parts against any possible lateral motion of the parts.

The parts Ill and II are preferably held in assembled relation by means of a separable fastener herein shown as a screw l6 and nut ll, although, as shown in Fig. 8, the nut ll may be replaced by a threaded opening [8 in one of the parts In or II. Obviously any desired fastener may be used, including a friction fit between the projection l3 and the recess l5.

One or both of the parts I0 and II may be provided with a recess [9 to receive the blade 52.

The parts [0 and II may be constructed of any suitable material but I prefer to construct these parts out of molded plastic which may be transparent so that indicia placed on the blade l2 may be observed through the material although obviously the parts it] and l I could be provided with indicia on the outer side thereof.

The blade holder, parts Ii] and H are slightly tapered so that the blade I2 is completely enclosed at one end but one edge of the blade l2 projects from one edge of the holder near one end as at 2B. A resilient guard 2i preferably integral with one portion, such as 10 of the holder is spaced from the edge of the front I! to provide a guide channel 22 to direct an envelope or other thin object against the exposed edge of the blade l2. As shown in Fig. 9, the guard 2| is provided with a shoulder 23 adjacent the edge of the blade 12 so that the material in the guide channel 22 is pressed sharply against the edge of the blade l2. In order to control the penetration of the blade l2 into the material, such as an envelope 24, the guard 21 is made Fig. 1D is a view showing the use of the cutting resilient as by the slot 25. A shallow groove 32 in the face of the back section I coincident with the guide channel 22, so that the envelope or other material may extend below the edge of the blade l2, the groove 32 being defined by the shoulder 33.

In the operation as a letter opener the envelope 24 is inserted in channel 22 and groove 32 and pulled between the blade [2 at 20 and the shoulder 23. The resiliency provided by slot 25 permits the shoulder 23 to spring out providing just suificient pressure to cut through a single thickness of the envelope material, as best shown in Fig. 9. Not only does this single thickness cutting protect the contents of the envelope but the single cut provides an overhanging edge 25 which may be grasped to open the envelope to remove the contents in a much more facile manner than when the envelope 24 has been sheared ofi evenly.

The resiliency of the guard 21 may be secured by providing a slot 21 in the plane of the holder instead of the transverse slot 25-.

The holder is also provided with a slot 28 adjacent a portion of the blade I2 which provides a. resilientguard 29 which may be pressed against a work piece, such as a paper 3|]. The exposed edge then is used to cut into the work piece and canv readily cut one sheet 3|] of the pile of papers and the maximum penetration can be determined by the width of the slot 28, as shown in Fig. 10.

This cutter is particularly useful in securing clippings from newspapers and magazines.

A notch 3| inthe holder exposes a narrow enclosed cutting edge which may be used for cutting string, ripping seams, or other purposes requiring a small cutting edge.

While, for purpose of illustration, I have shown exemplary embodiments of my invention and described my invention to the best of my present understanding, I wish it to be understood that I am not limited to the examples or explanation herein given, and it is apparent that many changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the true spirit of my invention or the scope of the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A blade holder comprising a back section, a

front section, one of said sections having a recess adapted to receive a thin double edged blade,

fastening means securing said front and back sections together, said sections when secured together being adapted to maintain a blade in substantially fixed relation therebetween, one edge of said holder being substantially parallel with the edge of the recess, the opposite edge of the front section being diagonal to and intersecting said recess, said back section extending beyond.

said recess, an upstanding guard on the extended portion of said back, said guard being spaced from the diagonal edge of said front section to provide a guide channel, said back section having a groove aligned with and forming an extension of said guide channel, said back section having a through slot formed in said groove and extending inwardly from one end of said back section between the back section and a portion of the upstanding guard confronting the intersected portion of the recess, whereby the portion of the guard is rendered resilient.

2. A blade holder comprising a front section, a back section, one of said sections having a blade holding recess for snugly receiving thin blade therein, one edge of said front section being diagonal to said blade holding recess and inter secting one corner thereof, said back section extending beyond the diagonal edge of said front section, the back section having a diagonal groove in the extending portion thereof, one side of said diagonal groove substantially coinciding with the diagonal edge of the front section, an upstanding. guard forming one side of said groove, said up standing guard extending in spaced relation to the diagonal edge of said front section to provide a guide channel intersecting the blade holding recess, a through slot formed in said groove and extending inwardly from one end of section between the back section and that portion of the guard adjacent the intersected corner of said blade holding recess.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 561,092 Cooke June 2, 1896 2,204,763 Maximilian June 18, .9 :0 2,291,294 Holste July 28, 1942 2,298,02e Vallarelli Oct. 6, 1942 2,350,945 Treadway June 6, 1944 2,388,695 Kriewaldt Nov. 13, 1945 

